This item was in The Edinburgh News and outlines new laws regarding Domestic Violence coming into effect in Scotland in 2019. I’m wondering how they could be introduced in Australia to cover spiritual abuse within cults. Almost every item mentioned happens in the RFA / xCF cult under the guise of their disgusting teachings and is carried out by Victor and his sycophantic henchmen. It’s a long read but interesting.

Changes to the law will make these 10 things illegal in a relationship
Claire Schofield
Published: 8:19 am August 22, 2018

New laws on domestic abuse will now make emotional abuse within a relationship illegal. Changes to Scotland’s Domestic Abuse Act will come into place in early 2019 and will criminalise abusive behaviours which are psychological, rather than being strictly limited to physical violence. Changes to legislation Harmful, emotionally abusive behaviours haven’t historically been captured by the law, limiting the legal tools the justice system has had to deal with such cases. The new legislation doesn’t consider domestic abuse as being a one-off incident, but rather a pattern of control, intimidation and humiliation by a partner or ex-partner. Changes to the law were voted through by Scottish Parliament in January this year, making psychological abuse and coercive control illegal.

Commenting on the soon to be introduced changes, a spokesperson from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “The implementation of the statutory aggravation of domestic abuse requires that courts take into account the domestic background when passing sentence. “The creation of a bespoke offcence of sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images enables prosecution of perpetrators of offences facilitated by evolving technology. “When it comes into force, the new legislation will enable prosecution of courses of abusive behaviour not currently recognised as criminal, including coercive controlling behaviour.”

The legislative changes will make the following 10 acts towards a partner illegal where they form part of a course of behaviour that is abusive towards a partner that a reasonable person would consider likely to cause them physical or psychological harm.

1. Sharing intimate or sexually explicit images of you – either online or not
So-called ‘revenge porn’ is about power, control and humiliation and was made illegal in Scotland in 2016 through the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm Act. It is illegal for someone to share intimate photographs of you with anyone else (Photo: Shutterstock) It is described by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as a form of ‘online domestic abuse’, which is “designed to cause fear, alarm or distress, and often used to humiliate, threaten and control the victim”. The new changes will make it illegal for someone to share intimate photographs of you with anyone, whether that is on or offline.

2. Restricting your access to money
Even if your partner earns more, the law says that one partner cannot stop the other from accessing money. According to Women’s Aid, this is a common tactic of abusers because if their partner is dependent on them, it helps them to gain more control.

3. Repeatedly putting you down
Constant insults from a partner might not be typically thought of as domestic abuse, but under the new law, persistent name-calling, mocking and other forms of insulting behaviour are now illegal if the abuse is of a level that could cause the victim psychological harm (in the eyes of a reasonable person). This is behaviour designed to destroy a person’s confidence and make them feel worthless.

4. Stopping you from seeing friends or family
If your partner continually isolates you from the people you love – either by monitoring or blocking your phone calls, emails, or social media, telling you where you can or cannot go, or stopping you from seeing your friends or relatives – this is recognised as controlling behaviour and is against the law. Women’s Aid note one of the most common ways abusers often do this is by acting jealous and accusing their partner of cheating on them, or loving others more than them. Your partner isolating you from the people you love is against the law

5. Scaring you
Physical violence isn’t the only way to scare someone. Your partner might not physically assault you, but if they are doing enough to frighten you, they are commiting an offence.
Women’s Aid says this can include, but is not limited to:
Blocking you by standing in the way, or using physical size to intimidate
Making angry gestures
Shouting at you or whispering things they know will scare you
Ruining your possessions
Breaking things
Punching walls
Wielding a knife or a gun

6. Threatening you
Making threats to control you is a form of abuse. This can include, but is not limited to:
Threatening to reveal your secrets or private things about you
Threats of self-harm or suicide
Threats to kill or harm you, your children (if any), or pets
Threatening to spread lies about you to friends, family, employers or your community

7. Forcing you to obey their rules
A relationship should be a partnership, with neither partner having control over the other. If you are forced to abide by rules set by your partner, it could mean they are committing a crime. By having lots of strict rules and punishing, or threatening to punish, you if you disobey, abusers get even more control over you and your behaviour, says Women’s Aid. A relationship should be a partnership, with neither partner having control over the other

8. Controlling how you look
This can include repeatedly telling you what to wear or not to wear, telling you how to wear your hair, wanting you to lose or gain weight, and giving you no choice in the matter. How you look is not something your partner should, or should want to, control.

9. Using your child (if any) to control, threaten or intimidate you
This can include, but is not limited to:
Putting you down in front of a child to humiliate you
Threatening violence towards a child to control or frighten you
Using a child to spy on your day-to-day activities
Being abusive in the presence of a child
Harsher penalties could also be imposed if the abusive behaviour is likely to negatively impact on a child living in such an environment. This could include a negative effect on their wellbeing or development.

10. Making you doubt your own sanity
This is sometimes called ‘gaslighting’ and is designed to make you doubt your own reality. It can involve lying, manipulating situations or people, or denying that things have happened to stop you from being able to trust yourself and your judgement of a situation.

If you are scared of your partner, or worried about someone you know, contact Scotland’s 24-hour Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline on 0800 027 1234.